NEWS OF OUR CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES

Renewal of Fairtrade Status for Colchester

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Colchester Fairtraders are celebrating because Colchester’s status as a Fairtrade Town has been renewed by the Fairtrade Foundation on 24th March 2010.

The successful application for renewal was the result of a lot of hard work by different members of the Fairtrade Town Group, who have been collecting information about Fairtrade events in Colchester during the last two years. We have some very flattering feedback from the Foundation, who say that “it is fantastic to see the level of dedication towards the local campaign, which is still evidently growing strong with the steady support of the (District) Council” and “congratulations on an exceptional renewal application for Fairtrade status…. fantastic work ! ”

Our next renewal application will be due in March 2012…. So let’s take a deep breath, then off we go again ….

Fairtrade Fortnight 2010 in Colchester

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The theme of this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight was “The Big Swap”. The Fairtrade Town Group has been encouraging people to swap their usual purchases for fairly traded brands. We held two events on this theme….

1)  The Mayor's Fairtrade Tea Party

On March 12th, the Mayor of Colchester, Cllr. Henry Spyvee, hosted a “Big Tea Party” in the Mayoral Suite at Colchester Town Hall. Guests enjoyed Fairtrade tea, orange juice and biscuits, which the Council kindly sponsored. Participants included pupils, staff and parents from four junior schools (St. Andrew's Junior, Greenstead; Highwoods Primary; Broomgrove Junior; and St. Thomas More RC), plus ten Councillors and members of the Fairtrade Town Group – a lively gathering of about 50 people ! In addition, we welcomed special guests Winfred Gelli and Peter Jones from NGO Elikem, who are working in Ghanaian schools and local communities to gain Fairtrade accreditation for 10 of their farm products.

Among the highlights of the event were:-

• A display of work on the Fairtrade theme produced by pupils from the participating schools (see the accompanying photos below)
• A giant blow-up mug of tea, which was the focus for press photos of the mayor with the children from the schools
• A presentation by the Mayor of certificates to each child to mark their attendance at the event
• An exciting quiz to test how much participants knew about the production of tea

We have been encouraged by the very positive feedback following this event, and we were equally pleased to get coverage in the local paper.

Photos taken by Don and Joan Manhire ©, members of the Fairtrade Campaign Group:-

2)  Ubuntu Fairtrade Cola promotion at Waitrose supermarket

(“Ubuntu” is an ancient Zulu expression, which signifies that everybody depends on everyone else, and nobody is left wanting)

On March 27th, we organised a second “Big Swap” event at our local Waitrose supermarket in conjunction with a relative newcomer to Fairtrade, Ubuntu based in London.

Why Waitrose ?   It is at present the only major supermarket chain which stocks Ubuntu Cola at several of its outlets. Ubuntu itself is a 100% Fairtrade company, which guarantees to give 15% of its profits back to the sugar producers in Malawi and Zambia.

See the Ubuntu Cola website for further information

More than 150 customers sampled the Cola, and many of them liked the cane sugar flavour…. although half thought it was sweeter and half less sweet than their normal cola… no accounting for taste !

We were encouraged that several customers purchased more than one can of Ubuntu cola, and Waitrose had to re-stock their shelves !

The Waitrose management were very supportive, and both the Campaign Group and Catherine Brogan from Ubuntu thought this event was very successful.

Photos taken by David Lankshear ©, member of the Fairtrade Campaign Group:-